Miles Davis
The Columbia Years 1955-1985 - Disc 1 of 4Originally Released December 6, 1988\nReconfigured CD-Sized Slipcase Packaging Released August 2001\nReconfigured Book-Style Packaging Released August 6, 2002\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: This was the first real attempt by Columbia to make \nany comprehensive sense of Miles Davis' colossal output for the label. \nThis set, then, was bound to be controversial no matter how it turned \nout, but even so, Columbia could have done better with a strictly chronological \napproach. Instead producer/compiler Jeff Rosen had the cockeyed notion \nof organizing each of the original five LPs around a single theme. Disc \none was called Blues, Disc two was devoted to Standards, Disc three had \nMiles Davis Originals, Disc four was something vaguely entitled Moods \nand all of the electric recordings were segregated on Disc five (the CDs \nnaturally screw up the "logic" with overlaps). Thus, the first four sections \njam together all kinds of unrelated sessions from different eras and the \nlistener never gets any idea of how Miles' music evolved and changed over \nthe years. There are only four outtakes, three of which are gratuitous \nalternate takes, and the fourth is a live version of "I Thought About \nYou." However, The Columbia Years stands as a casual collage -- the only \nway, actually, to acquire a bop-to-rock, fairly representative selection \nof Miles from those decades in one package. Also one must admit that the \nelectric section, despite the chronological chaos, is put together very \ncleverly, opening with precisely the hottest stretch of music from Live-Evil \n(the opening 3-and-a-half-minutes of "Sivad") and closing with the long, \nswaggering "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" from Bitches Brew. Nat Hentoff's \nbiographical essay makes good reading -- and of course, along the way \nyou'll hear some of the greatest music of the 20th century. -- Richard \nS. Ginell\n\nHalf.com Album Notes\nContains 35 tracks on 4 CDs, many of which are unreleased or out of print. \nThe discs are arranged by genre. \n\nPersonnel includes: Miles Davis (trumpet, flugelhorn); Gary Bartz (soprano \n& alto saxophones); Bill Evans (soprano & tenor saxophones); Dave Leibman \n(soprano saxophone); Julian "Cannonball" Adderly, Lee Konitz (alto saxophone); \nJohn Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Hank Mobley, George Coleman (tenor saxophone); \nBill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Red Garland, Wynton Kelly, Chick Corea, Joe \nZawinul, Keith Jarrett (piano); John McLaughlin, John Scofield, Mike Stern \n(guitar); Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, Dave Holland (bass); Jimmy Cobb, \nTony Williams, Kenny Clarke, Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones, Jack DeJohnette, \nBilly Cobham (drums); Airto Moreira, Don Alias (percussion).\n\nProducers include: Miles Davis, Irving Townsend, George Avakian, Teo Macero, \nCarl Lampley.\n\nCompilation producer: Jeff Rosen.\nRecorded between 1955 and 1985. Includes liner notes by Nat Hentoff.\n\nDigitally remastered by Mark Wilder (CBS Records Studio, New York, New \nYork).\n\nWell, really, what can you say? Miles Davis's prolific output for Columbia \nRecords may be the single greatest set of recordings one artist made for \none label. From his hard-bop-era label debut, 'ROUND ABOUT MIDNIGHT, to \nhis somewhat controversial 1985 recasting of Cyndi Lauper's "Time After \nTime" into a meditative, moody gem, Davis constantly pushed the boundaries \nof jazz. Along the way, he created Gil Evans-arranged masterpieces like \nSKETCHES OF SPAIN and PORGY AND BESS, the career pinnacle KIND OF BLUE, \nand jazz-rock trailblazers like IN A SILENT WAY and BITCHES BREW. \n\nArranging the set by theme (standards, blues, originals, moods, and electric) \ninstead of chronology makes it somewhat difficult to chart the progress \nof Miles' experiments, but it does make each CD a pleasurably coherent \nlisten. While it's impossible for four CDs to feature much beyond the \nvery best of Davis's Columbia years, this set is a handy introduction \nfor newcomers
This jazz cd contains 10 tracks and runs 68min 38sec.
Freedb: 8610140a